Transfer News

The European season is fast approaching and teams are strengthening their squads. With a number of new managers we can expect big changes at some clubs, with others making just minor tweaks.

Let’s start in England:

Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United got things going early with the capture of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from PSG, followed by Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Dortmund and Eric Bailly from Villarreal. Paul Pogba’s potential move from Juve for a world record GBP100+ million ($135+ million) still dominates the news.

Across Manchester, Pep Guardiola’s first week has been fairly quiet. Ilkay Gundogan also from Dortmund the biggest name.

Other notable moves so far being Granit Xhaka to Arsenal, Ibe to Bournemouth, Kante to Chelsea and Mane to Liverpool.

Possibly the best “non-transfer” signing may still prove to be Leicester keeping Jamie Vardy. If they can also hold on to Mahrez it could be a very good summer for Leicester despite the loss of Kante.

Germany:

Dortmund are trying to recapture Mario Gotze from Bayern Munich, who are for their part rumored to be interested in Arsenal central defender Laurent Koscielny. Schalke are looking at Southampton midfielder Dusan Tadic, as are Leverkusen.

Spain:

More about who is staying or leaving than who is coming so far in Spain. On the “potential in” list, Mata to Espanyol is no surprise since we have already seen that Mourinho is not a Mata fan from his Chelsea days. Rojo also leaving Man Utd and heading to Villarreal looks on the cards.

Topping the “not happening” list is Morata to stay at Madrid, who have also ruled themselves out of the Pogba race.

Barca have signed Digne from PSG but see the end of an era as Dani Alves departs for Juve.

France;

A lot of movement inter-team within the country here, probably more than anywhere else in Europe. A lot of focus will fall on new coach Unai Emery at PSG beginning a new era in Paris. Can they continue their dominance of French football or will there be a changing of the guard ?

Transfer-wise, no big name moves yet, but most active have been FC Metz with 16 arrivals and 13 departures – that should prove to be an interesting transition early in the season.

One other notable move being Martin Skrtel leaving Liverpool for Fenerbahce after 8 1/2 years on Merseyside.

All in all, fairly quiet so far in Europe. One big name moved early, another story lingers on. But don’t despair, we will soon get to the silly season with the window closure approaching and sudden panic buys, so watch this space.

 

(The above views are those of the contributing writer and not necessarily those of Soccer American, Inc., it’s owners, management or staff)